On March 24, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez had just entered Alaska's Price William Sound, after departing the Valdez Marine Terminal full of crude oil. At 12:04 am, the ship struck a reef, tearing open the hull and releasing 11 million gallons of oil into the environment. Initial responses by Exxon and the Alyeska Pipeline Company were insufficient to contain much of the spill, and a storm blew in soon after, spreading the oil widely. Eventually, more than 1,000 miles of coastline were fouled, and hundreds of thousands of animals perished. Exxon ended up paying billions in cleanup costs and fines, and remains tied up in court cases to this day. The captain, Joseph Hazelwood, was acquitted of being intoxicated while at the helm, but convicted on a misdemeanor charge of negligent discharge of oil, fined $50,000, and sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service. Though the oil has mostly disappeared from view, many Alaskan beaches remain polluted to this day, crude oil buried just inches below the surface. [39 photos total]

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The damaged oil tanker Exxon Valdez, towed out of Alaska's Prince William Sound by a tugboat and a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter, on June 23, 1989. On March 24, 1989, the tanker ran hard aground on Bligh Reef, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into the sound -- at the time, the largest oil spill disaster in U.S. history.
(AP Photo/Al Grillo)
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The Exxon Baton Rouge (smaller ship on left) attempts to offload crude oil from the Exxon Valdez after the Valdez ran aground in Prince William sound near Valdez, Alaska, on March 26, 1989.
(AP Photo)
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Left: Cordova fisherman Tim Tirrell puts a dead sea otter into his boat after finding the oily animal on the beach of Johnson Bay in Prince William Sound, on April 14, 1989. Right: A pod of sea lions swim through a slick of crude oil off the shore of Ingot Island, Alaska, on April 14, 1989, three weeks after the spill.
(AP Photo/John Gaps III)
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A cleanup worker walks through the oily surf at Naked Island on Prince Williams Sound on April 2, 1989, as early beach cleanup efforts take place in the background, a week after the spill.
(Chris Wilkins/AFP/Getty Images)
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Oily tocks glisten in the sun on Green lsland in Prince William Sound. This section of beach, earlier signed off as being environmentally stable by both Exxon and the Coast Guard, was re-oiled on July 4, 1989.
(Alaska Resources Library and Information Services)
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A clean-up worker rakes through crude oil, contained by floating booms off the waters of Prince William Sound on April 16, 1989. The oil, contained here in Snug Harbor off Knight Island, was later sucked off the water by a U.S. Coast Guard skimmer.
(AP Photo/John Gaps III)
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Hot water from high-pressure hoses was originally used to clean beaches, but workers switched to cold water after discovering that hot water was killing shoreline organisms.
(Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council)
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Thousands flocked to Valdez, Alaska, to earn money in the massive cleanup effort, creating a temporary boomtown, and attracting those who wished to supply, house, and feed the newcomers. Photo taken on June 6, 1989.
(AP Photo/Jack Smith)
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Joseph J. Hazelwood, left, captain of Exxon Valdez and Gregory Cousins, at right rear, the ship's third mate, who was at the helm of the tanker when it ran aground, leave Coast Guard offices in Valdez, March 28, 1989 with an unidentified Exxon official. The men met with officials of the National Transportation Safety Board, who were investigating the grounding of the tanker and the subsequent oil spill.
(AP Photo/Rob Stapleton)
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A rescued sea otter is restrained and washed by workers at a local animal facility after five of the oil covered mammals were captured in the fouled waters of Prince William Sound on April 18, 1989.
(AP Photo/John Gaps III)
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Ray Bane, superintendent of the Katmai National Park, digs into a thick pool of oil on the park's shoreline on the Alaska Peninsula, on May 3, 1989. Oil from the Exxon Valdez had moved hundreds of miles from Prince William Sound.
(AP Photo/John Quinley)
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Dennis Kelso, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, walks with members of the Oil Spill Task Force during a tour of the Dayville Incineration Site in Valdez, surrounded by piles of oily waste waiting to be burned, on July 4, 1989.
(Alaska Resources Library and Information Services)
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